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Wednesday, 7 August 2013

Until recently I was the Cuba Solidarity Campaign contact for Lincolnshire. In September 2012
I moved to Canada to take up a job opportunity in Thunder Bay, Ontario, on the
north western shore of Lake Superior. I quickly discovered that Thunder Bay
also has another name - Cuba Town - because of its long time support for the
Cuban people.Thunder Bay has a proud progressive history.

The labour movement has
always been strong here within the forestry and industrial sectors. This
militancy was compounded by a large influx of Finnish workers in the early 20th
century. Their influence can still be seen today in the Finnish Labour Temple -
above the world famous Hoito workers restaurant - and a number of co-operative
ventures.

Cuban art and culture are also visible here. The Habana Gallery is on
Cumberland Street, a short walk from where I live. This vibrant gallery
displays Cuban paintings, local and international arts and crafts, hand-made
picture frames and canvas stretching and holds workshops for adults and
children.

We also have Rollie's Cuban Cigar store on Memorial Avenue, which sells
a wide range of hand-made Cuban cigars, including Cohibas. We do not need to
accept second rate imitations produced by the US company General Cigar Co.
which stole the Cohiba trade mark with the support of a federal commission. We
have the real deal right here in Thunder Bay.

Many of our bars and restaurants also serve Havana Club, the authentic
Cuban rum. This means that we do not have to drink Bacardi, who have not
operated in Cuba since 1959, but who continue to sell rum with the Havana Club
label, which is another trademark violation.

The connection with Cuba is maintained via three direct flights a week
from Thunder Bay to Havana which have enabled a number of local solidarity projects
to develop.

Dresses for Success

When the Cuban economy began to open up, Erika Maki, a Thunder Bay businesswoman,
started to think of ways to support budding entrepreneurs in Cuba. She began by
asking anyone who was going to Cuba for vacation to leave some room for a
clothing package in their luggage. This is part of the Soroptomist
International initiative, Business in a Bag, to help women earn more income.

The dresses are needed to help women start their own rental and bridal
shops. Maki supplies the dresses and the tourists drop them off at a pre-arranged
location, such as a hotel. This helps cut costs as many of the Cuban women
cannot afford long taxi rides to airports.

The packages contain everything a woman needs to start a rental
business. Formal gowns are in big demand for weddings and quinceanera, a girl's
15th birthday, which is considered the turning point from childhood to
adulthood in Spanish influenced cultures.

There are no problems with customs in Cuba where it is perfectly legal to
bring used clothes into the country. The Business in a Bag project is not
limited to dresses. Maki is looking into other business start up ideas from
photography equipment to electronics and household appliances.

Travellers Can Save Lives

Stan and Janet Roy are not your average tourists. 'If you're going on
vacation, why not help someone else if you can?' says Janet Roy. On their last
two trips to Cuba they have done just that. They have taken various medical
items for MEMO Cuba.

'It's very easy to do,' says Stan Roy, Janet's husband. 'Especially if
you are travelling to a Varadero beach resort.' You can hop on a bus, for the
whole day, that takes you right up Calle 34, the street where you'll find the
Varadero Presbyterian church. Here you can drop off the MEMO supplies.’

There is no problem taking these small items into Cuba. It is very easy
to do. MEMO Cuba, created and based here in Thunder Bay, provides you with a
small package that weighs less than five kilograms. MEMO was founded by Jerome
Harvey, MD:

‘Have you
ever wondered what happens to all that redundant hospital equipment that gets
replaced every 10 years by state-of-the-art stuff? That thought went through my
mind as I stood looking out my kitchen window at the old 250-bed Port Arthur
General Hospital in Thunder Bay. It was soon to be closed and, along with the
350-bed Mckellar Hospital on the other side of town, to be replaced with a
375-bed state-of-art super-duper new hospital.

‘My inquiries led me to discover that, because of Thunder Bay’s isolation
(500 kilometers to the next nearest large population centre) the cost of
removal and shipping made the contents of the old hospitals valueless.
Reluctantly, the hospital administration admitted that most of the equipment
would be sold to a scrap dealer for $50 a ton. This included 12 x-ray machines,
ranging from seven to twenty years of age, all to be replaced with digital
machines.’

Because two complete hospitals were being replaced with a single one,
the equivalent of eight operating suites, complete with all the surgical
instruments and scopes were available. The list of what had been declared
redundant went on and on, with replacement value of approximately $20 million.

It was through this that Medical Equipment Modernization Opportunity
(MEMO) was born. Jerome approached the Thunder Bay Regional Hospital
Administration and discovered that they were open to the idea of the hospital
equipment being used in a third world country rather being turned into scrap or
landfill. In HavanaJerome met with Cuban Ministry of Health officials,
facilitated bya young Cuban physician,
Dr. Aurora Riera from Placetas (near Santa Clara in central Cuba ). The Cuban
government agreed to help in any way they could. They also agreed the donation
could go to the remote and needy area of Santa Clara.

For two weeks more than 100 volunteers from across Western Canada
removed, created and shipped 11 ocean containers to Cuba. This included 110
modern hospital beds. A great mountain
of hospital equipment and furnishings were bubble wrapped, shrink wrapped and
protected in 270 palletized crates. All the equipment arrived undamaged and
usable. Cuban biomedical engineers immediately set to work to install X-ray
machines, lab equipment and operating room suites.

One orthopaedic surgeon, as he opened boxes of surgical instruments with
tear in his eyes, cried, “I have only seen instruments like these in
textbooks!”

One very important aspect of MEMO was sustainability. MEMO committed
itself to providing orientation to this new modern equipment as well as
providing repair parts and consumables for the next five years.

You are probably wondering who paid for all of this. The cost of
acquiring, removing, packing, shipping and reinstalling this $20 million of
equipment was $346,314. This was raised entirely from individual Canadians by
word of mouth promotion. When MEMO was facing the dilemma of having to let
life-saving hospital equipment sit in a warehouse for lack of funds for
shipping, an elderly couple came forward with a loan of $70,000 from their
retirement savings to allow the equipment to be shipped.

An e-mail, from Dr. Riera in Cuba
says it all: ‘I will send you a picture of the department of X-ray in
Placetas, all is very beautiful. Everybody is very happy. It is amazing!’

MEMO has shipped 41 ocean containers with contents
valued at $24 million dollars. It has facilitated 19 medical/surgical/technical
teams to Cuba. Team members pay all their own expenses.

MEMO is currently working in seven hospitals, two
clinics, seven homes for the aged and the regional cancer centre. It has
instituted laproscopic cholecystectomies and arthroscopic surgery in Placetas
hospital. It has shipped over 600 computers and collaborated in setting up
computer systems in hospitals. MEMO has sent over eight tons of bed linens for
use in health care institutions.

It has instituted the only functioning breast
screening program in Cuba. It has provided a computerized clinical laboratory
in Placetas hospital. It has furnished ICU equipment to five of the hospitals
it works in. MEMO has equipped a children’s clinic for neurologically
compromised children in the capital city of Villa Clara. It is furnishing an 80
bed hospital for severely physically and mentally incapacitated children in
Villa Clara.

MEMO has also collaborated with the provincial
cancer centre and palliative care ward at the Celestino Hospital in Santa
Clara. It has already provided endoscopes for cancer diagnosis in three
hospitals. It has renewed the laundry facilities of three hospitals. It
provides audio equipment for hearing impaired children. It has carried over
$200,000 of pharmaceutics to Cuba in team member’s luggage.

From big projects to small practical acts of
solidarity, Thunder Bay is playing its part in the worldwide movement to
support Cuba and its people.